MobyGames News

In Memoriam: PolloDiablo (Astrid Beulink)

Just a short note that, tragically, former MobyGames contributor PolloDiablo, aka Astrid Beulink (who is ranked in the Top 60 all-time on Moby) lost her battle with cancer earlier this month, according to Adventure-Treff (German-language). Astrid - who posted in the Approver forum in November to update us on her progress - was very active in the adventure gaming community in particular as a beta tester and contributor. She will be missed by all of the communities she supported, including us here at Moby.

MobyGames Stats 2014

A new year. A new MobyGames stats graph!

Happy new year everybody!

Each coloured shape in the graph represents a platform. Horizontal axis is time. The vertical axis represents the number of games released. So the height of a shape on a given point in time indicates the number of games released for that platform that year. The total height of the graph on a given point in time shows the total releases that year.

Of course the graph is only as complete as our database is.

Notable changes:

I've changed to a different colour scheme. It may be a bit harder on the eyes, but with some macro magic I tried to keep related platforms similar colours. For example all Microsoft platforms are shades of orange, Apple is green, Sony is blue, Nintendo is red, ZX is purple, and because there are only so many colours Commodore is a different shade of green. I also grouped brands with only one platform into similar colours based on the type of platform (console, handheld, pc, etc.)

I'm now using MobyGames data for Arcade games, this means that there are much fewer arcade games shown in the graph this year. Although we managed to document an impressive 1525 in the last year, that's nowhere near the 8000+ of arcade-history.com

7004 new games compared to last year's graph, in spite of the huge decrease of Arcade games!

159 different platforms are displayed in the graph!

Happy holidays - new records, new platforms!

Well, it's that holiday time of the year, and we're finishing up with a bang! Two things, this time! First, as the ever-delightful Karsa Orlong points out in a PM to me: "New records: - the first four top contributors (FatherJack, Sciere, Karsa Orlong, 666gonzo666) beat their annual records with FatherJack setting the all time year to year record - Sciere set a new annual record of approvals (beating my 60k approvals from 2013), what is the proof, together with contributions points record, of his alien deep space cybernetic origin!"

Second, Kabushi continues to add new platforms, and if hyou follow this forum thread, you can see them being piled up in _real-time_, which is awesome. Just added is the Bally Astrocade, among a number of others. Finally, once again - thanks to EVERYONE who makes MobyGames' continued success possible - and have a wonderful Xmas & New Year!

4,000 C64 games - & goodbye to valued contributors!

Thanks to Karsa Orlong for pointing out that we've just shot past 4,000 games for the Commodore 64 - an impressive milestone! Looks like a lot of this is due to the powerhouse known as FatherJack going through missing games alphabetically - thanks to him and ALL who are contributing to the tally here!

Also, sad news - a couple of contributors have hung up their spurs. The artist sometimes known as joyvalley (and thf) has left the building, and as a #3 all-time contributor, we're incredibly appreciative for his work. The same is true for Top 10 all-time contributor MAT, who is also no longer hitting the submit button :/ Maybe we'll see them back in the future, but if not, we'd like to thank them for their tireless preservation of video game history!

[Final bonus news item - Kabushi has added the Coleco Adam & Camputers Lynx systems (!) as MobyGames platforms, yay as we try to complete our portfolio. You can add games, now and if you'd like to add tech specs, see this thread.]

Tip Of The Day

The PC gaming industry's products were not always conventional, popular, or mainstream.
But that doesn't stop us from documenting them!
Where else would you learn about such oddities as
Timothy Leary's Mind Mirror
and Captain Blood? :-) more tips

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Few games were bashed by fans as unreservedly as this final installment of the longest-running adventure game series. It was done with early blocky 3D, lacking the visual charm of its predecessors; more importantly, it had combat and an RPG angle with levels, equipment, etc. Its action was unremarkable, its RPG elements forgettable, its puzzles few and mediocre, failing to satisfy fans of any genre.

Yet it was also an innovative and bold game trying to break beyond genre boundaries, ahead of its time in its treatment of 3D visuals and their effect on gameplay. Dark and atmospheric, it was curiously involving as it shuffled puzzles, encounters with friendly characters, battles, and a hunt for healing items and weapons. Its interesting structure and design philosophy have very few, if any, equivalents in the history of any of the genres it tried to merge - and that's why it deserves a second chance.